Once at the pinnacle of English football, competing on several fronts, not only on the pitch or off it but also in the minds and in the tactics but now two domains who have fallen a little but no matter what the circumstances are, it’s always a pumped up fixture when Arsenal lock horns with United.
Arsenal needed a response after a London derby loss but United’s Jose had already downplayed his team’s ambitions to finish in top four claiming that their priority was the Europa League.
Arsenal gave the response, two quick-fire goals from Xhaka and Danny Welbeck sealed the deal as United struggled to even trouble Cech as the match wore on. Arsenal showed intent and desire after a decent amount of time and undoubtedly they were the better team. Here’s how the Gunners have been rated:-
1) GK: Petr Cech – 7.5/10
Made himself big against the two good chances Martial and Rooney had and denied them. Otherwise, he was a mere spectator. A clean-sheet is a huge positive.
2) RWB: Alex Ox-Chamberlain – 7/10
Gave Darmian a tough time, his pace proved to be a hard thing to deal with and he showed great hunger to deliver something. A very appealing performance.
3) RCB: Rob Holding – 6.5/10
Held on well and made a few notable contributions at the back. He has good potential.
4) CB: Laurent Koscielny – 7/10
Won the battle against Martial on several occasions and hardly put a foot wrong. He’s instrumental to Arsenal’s squad and on occasions like these, he only proves why.
5) LCB: Nacho Monreal – 6/10
Nothing extraordinary really and went about his job in a tidy manner.
6) LWB: Kieran Gibbs – 7/10
His occasional charges down the left were like supplements to the attack of Arsenal. The only thing he lacked was the end product but he too had a nice game.
7) CM: Aaron Ramsey – 8.5/10
Outstanding on the day without a shadow of a doubt. Quite often people have been critical regarding his impact but he surely stepped up today. His runs behind the defenders nagged United and caused them immense trouble and he stretched them from side to side. Brilliant today and he needs to be consistent.
8) CM: Granit Xhaka – 7.5/10
A much-improved performance today. He held the ball well, rotated it without any errors and he got lucky with a powerful shot that got deflected off Herrera and gave Arsenal the lead.
9) FW: Mesut Ozil – 6/10
Got involved time and again but didn’t trouble Darmian much. Also, his contributions can be seen when the team plays well so overall he had a decent game but one can only expect Ozil to get even better and back to his best.
10) FW: Alexis Sanchez – 6/10
Got the ball several times but United’s right back Taunzebe had a firm grip on him and won several duels. Not a good day individually but he’d be delighted for the team.
11) Danny Welbeck – 7/10
Kept trying to find an opening and got his reward which he turned into the net with a bullet header giving De Gea no chance. Scoring against his former club must have been sweet.
